10gacrowshooter and I got out today in nearby Maine for our first hunt of 2012. It was cold 15 warming up to 20 degrees with little wind and light snow all morning. We were pleasantly surprised to see a lot of birds for this area and at this time of year. We had very steady shooting for the first hour and half and then the pace slowed until we quit at Noon. Our old 10ga doubles worked great as a lot of birds stayed a little high over the decoys and when we finished we had 43 birds between us. A fair number fell in the river to our right, it is kind of fun to splash them. We had a hard time finding our kills as they crashed into the snow and were covered up by the new falling snow. All in all it was great start to the new year. That's our blind above the crow decoy in the 2nd picture.
-- Edited by nhcrowshooter on Saturday 21st of January 2012 06:25:06 PM
Thanks, we might not have known to go out yesterday if you had not alerted us to the change in the Maine winter/spring season. It was good to get out but sure was cold! Classic doubles add the enjoyment!
Definitely cold. My whole life I have been suffering with cold feet. Over time I have spent many hundreds of dollars buying boots that promised to keep my feet warm. None of them worked. Not when sitting still for hours anyway.
This past summer I bought some military surplus Bunny Boots. UNBELIEVABLE. I've worn them half a dozen times this year hunting and ice fishing. WOW, are they ever warm. Best winter boots I've ever had. Made yesterday's hunt more enjoyable.
Kev
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-- Edited by Mainehunt on Monday 23rd of January 2012 12:39:25 AM
We took my old Coleman Radiant Focus 5 propane heater (out of production) with us. The bottle last the whole hunt. It warmed up the blind a bit and when resting on a limb in front of us was a great hand warmer between shots.
Thanks, we might not have known to go out yesterday if you had not alerted us to the change in the Maine winter/spring season. It was good to get out but sure was cold! Classic doubles add the enjoyment!
Looks like you had a great hunt! Makes me want to get out my Dad's old Ithaca double barrel. Just scared of the damascus barrels now that I am older. I shot it and hunted with it a lot as a kid.
Shooting Damascus is only scary the first time. Ithaca made quality guns. Take it to someone who can measure barrel wall thickness. If the gun is mechanically sound, bore better than badly pitted and has a minimum of .090 just ahead of the chamber and nothing less .025 at the thinnest part of the barrels (near chokes) you should be fine. Most of us shooting damascus and twist use this as a guideline and then reload and try to keep pressure 7500psi and below. Single base nitro powders similiar to SR7625 and SR4756 were available in the late 19th century.
I advise professional inspection of the gun and low pressure loads equal to the pressures shells developed back in the day these guns were sold.
Please note what this 1904 Remington advertisement states relative to this discussion.
If you are still reading an excellent discussion on shooting nitro powder in damascus barrels can be found here:
Looks like you had a great hunt! Makes me want to get out my Dad's old Ithaca double barrel. Just scared of the damascus barrels now that I am older. I shot it and hunted with it a lot as a kid.
